There Are Worse Things
by XXemzyXX
Summary: Pretending can be a dangerous game. She pretends to be a man. He pretends to be emotionless. But, when the truth come to light the true challange becomes pretending that they don't care.
1. Prolouge

(For the benefit of my readers I've chosen to delve briefly into each character that will be introduced at some point during the unfolding of said story. Although, I suppose a few minor details may be subject to change, I don't truly believe that indecisiveness as to character outlook shall be a problem. Pleasant Regards xxemzyxx)

Character List and Descriptions:

Kagome: (much more detail related in the prologue as to her history and traits – I encourage you to check there)

Sesshomaru: Solitary lord of the Western lands, Sesshomaru is known to most all of Japan as a thoroughly emotionless icicle. (details provided in first actual chapter) Recently having been under severe rebellion from outsider demons that dwell in the land of the unclaimed mountains, he presently finds himself nearly halfway through a patrolling journey during which he has brought several legions of troops. Trust in all humanity waning after the betrayal he sees from his father, the powerful inu youkai has no friends, allies or lovers and has firmly convinced himself that he likes it as such.

Naraku: Leader of the hoards that dwell in the mostly unclaimed lands beyond the cardinal reach, Naraku is a hybrid spider hanyou. Having originally been created in the form of a human bandit, he is now loathe to relate the causes of his transformation to anyone. Both power-hungry and over confident, the hanyou has decided that it is past time he make his move, putting his plan of eventual dictatorship in motion.

Rin: Her own village having been torn apart by a band of rabid ookami youkai, Rin is now the ward of the great lord Sesshomaru. Having rescued him from his near run-in with death, she now sees the over-protective noble as her own father. Never failing to provide anyone in the palace with a large gap-toothed grin, the little human girl spends her days running around the white marble structure of the palace moon.

Shippo: Parents having been slaughtered on one of the Thunder Brothers pointless rampages, the kit is as of now traveling by himself along the borders of his parents marked lands. A bit more reserved as an orphan, the kit still has the full potential of mischief which he once held.

Thunder Brothers: Minor lords within the territories of the docile Northern lord, the Thunder Brothers are quite fond of stirring up trouble and tend to grown board nearly instantly. Blessed with only mediocre brotherly relations, the two often separate and seek their own entertainment.

Inuyasha: As the second, bastard, son of the former Western Lord Inuyasha left the western lands for reasons of his own with the knowledge of his brother's eventual dismissal of him confirmed. Heart hardened by the life of a half-breed and the constant feeling of haunting aloneness, Inuyasha seems to have come to a standstill in his own life as he wanders over the countryside at his own leisure, caring not for his disregarded political duties.

Kikyo: (does not play a major part in this story) Kikyo, Kagome's elder sister was slaughtered on the night of the village invasion. Never truly kind to her sister yet not lacking in minor compassion, she was always the center of attention.

Miroku: Lord of the Southern lands, Miroku and his ancestors stumbled into the role by a stroke of brilliant fortune. Yet, soon after the monk's great grandfather soiled such a streak, receiving a self-destructive wind tunnel for his refusal to aid the half demon Naraku. Mortal, and viewed as somewhat inferior by a majority of the other lord's, the humble priest cares little for the opinions of the world and often tends to make light of dire situations. Although completely smitten by his new bride, Lady Sango of the demon hunter's clan, Miroku still struggles against his own fears of rejection and their display through senseless lecherous actions.

Sango: Lady of the Southern lands, Sango is quick tempered and a trained warrior. Even though her love for her husband runs deep, she can't help their constant arguing and her own personal feelings of despair at his perverse tendencies. Stricken by the fear of her own inadequacies, she tends to downplay her feminine charms.

Myoga: Myoga, the eldest by far of the four cardinal lords, is a wise widower without children. Having been quite close with the formidable Inu no Tashio, he has taken to thinking of Sesshomaru as his own son. Never one prone or even in the least attracted to violence, the enlarged flea youkai makes it his priority to keep the Northern lands away from any and all conflict.

Kanna/Kagura: (neither character shall have a major role, however they are canon so I feel obligated to procure them) Both minions of Naraku, they were born from his flesh and now walk the earth as avatars sent to carry out their lord's bidding. Although relentless in her pursuit for freedom, Kagura has developed a strange father-like fondness over the years for her creator. Much the opposite, the younger sister, Kanna, tends to stick with the non-emotional theory for her life policy.

Koga: Koga Ookami is the son of the former Eastern Lord and has recently come into his own reign. Although good hearted, the wolf youkai tends to be brash in action and gruff in speech. Having begun his own search for a mate several months prior, Koga is presently in the midst of courting Lady Ayame (the daughter of a minor lord dwelling within his territories); not sure as to his true feelings for her or for that matter his willingness to make such a long term commitment, he tries his utmost to keep her at a distance.

Other(s): Any other Characters that happen to pop up or make some type of appearance within this story are purely for plot purposes and have nothing and/or no relation to the actual Inuyasha franchise.

Total Story Disclaimer: As unfortunate as it may seem, I do not own the Inuyasha series or any of its related characters, paraphernalia, etc. As coverage for the span of the entire story, this is my personal, public recognition of the fact. I make no profit from this story; it has been created purely for reader enjoyment and out of my own interest in writing. Thank you.

First Author's Note: For a draining lack of inspiration and even, dare I say it, interest in my literary pastimes, I've decided that my newest work is going to be different. Between reading the redundant plot of Inuyasha's betrayal and Sesshomaru's appearance as unlikely savior and writing one of my own, I think I've just grown bored with the whole thing. What is really the point of devoting so much time and effort to a story that can be so easily duplicated minus a few minor details? So, in light of this, I'd like to inform all of my readers that my plot is going to be a bit different from the traditional outline. Although I don't claim to be the first to try such an approach, I still feel as if this expansion of authoritarian realm and creativity will be a breath of fresh air. Besides that, I'd like to let you all know beforehand that my updates will be generated in an entirely sporadic fashion. From experience, I have learned that setting time limitations and due dates can stifle one's creativity immensely. It is more than likely I'll take several breaks from this story to work on others pieces, but I promise to make at least some form of constant effort (however varying in enthusiasm it may be/delayed it may come). Also, I'll try my best to set aside a section of each chapter hereafter to respond to any reviews that I obtain. Just as a side note, I would like to let you all know that I am quite aware that this chapter is somewhat, if not completely, lame. However, it was the prologue and there was just some information that I needed to get out there. I apologize for the inconvenience and for this reason I will posting this at the same time interval as chapter one in hopes that you will all stick with me. High hopes and Creative wishes,

xxemzyxx

It used to be simpler. It was meant to be simpler. But then again, what clout did the correct path of action have over fate? None. None, _that _was what was simple. Feeling the tiny, sharpened edges of the pebbles cutting into the thick, coarse material of her top as she lay sprawled across the loose dirt floor of the clearing, Kagome pressed her lidded eyes tightly together in a vain attempt to fool the age old warden of dreams. Bound chest heaving in a derisive, dejected sigh, the lithe young woman gave into the sore temptation to open her sparkling sapphire orbs and gaze at the millions of tiny lights interspersed within the endless sea of black above her. Following their nonexistent pattern with her eyes, she was once again thrown feebly into a blunder of some of her most cherished and greatly feared recollections.

Somehow it seemed that the night sky always served as her greatest reminder of the life she had once had and the things she had once lost. Why? Perhaps it was because the same heavens had looked down upon her village. Maybe it had to do with the awe she still held looking up at the great Kami's masterpiece or the knowledge that even though her reality had perished long ago, the world was still keeping on. Although…there had been a time where the aforementioned feat had seemed completely and utterly unfathomable to her grief ridden mind. Stretching lazily and shifting her thin, muscled arms under her lightly pounding head the lone woman let her mind drift.

Situated between the foamy green waves of the northern bordering sea and the great rocky peaks of the southern mountains, her village had always been relatively secluded from the rest of the world, something she only became aware of once she had left the safety of the valley in which she grew. As they so often did, her travels had actually put into perspective the truths of her childhood. For example the thousands of demons that had seemed to bustle around her past home had quickly shrunk to a number somewhere between two hundred and three hundred after her first visit to one of the dizzying central cities. The palatial halls of the structures at home had also been brushed away into sloppily constructed, mud and stick buildings held together by the baking of the constant overhead sun. Still, even through such shattered illusions, the town's significance in her past memories had yet to wane even in the slightest for it had housed everything she had first known and loved.

Now aware of her childish, yet not entirely unexpected misconceptions, Kagome had long ago become more prone to recall the people of the village rather than the actual place itself. The elders whom had so often chastised her for acting like a brutish young male, the few merchants whom set up their wares in the street that had chased her away from their stands hollering about silly children, the old medicine woman she had often sat and watched for hours with rapt fascination, the gossiping ladies who had fussed over her un-brushed hair and shabby appearance, the young men who used to let her aid them in their daily tasks; they all shifted in and out of her mind like waves rushing upwards towards the shore of her memory and then retreating quickly back into the sea of nothingness she had so long pushed towards. She remembered them all. Picking out the shadowy forms of all those she recalled from the recesses of her mind, the traveler soon fell into memories of her own family.

Her mother had been beautiful, a graceful ookami demoness, everything a woman should be: subdued, submissive, gentle, quiet, sensitive. It was odd really; her mother seemed to be the epitome of all she would never be, almost like a beacon shinning in the distance, too far away to reach out to but just close enough to remain visible. Honestly, she had quit trying. She'd quit dancing around the fact that she'd never be a proper lady. She was stubborn, opinionated, well skilled in the art of battle, loud, temperamental and could have serious attitude issues if the occasion arose. Kami, she didn't even own a hair brush, usually she just let her hair dry how it fell and hoped against hope that it wasn't feeling like being disagreeable. But that was all very much beside the point at the moment; her mother had the perfect woman, if not a little naïve. Even at a young age Kagome had known that there was no feasible way for the world to be as simply black and white as her mother believed it to be. And now, well, now she was even more convinced that most things lingered in an indefinite grey area. She'd loved her mother and, yes, she truly did miss her but a there was still some piece of her that had never forgiven the docile woman for playing along with all of the things that her elder sister Kikyo had dramatized. Oh well, she'd always tell herself, it would be asking way too much for perfection now wouldn't it?

Her father, Kisho Hirugashi, had been if not greatly liked, highly respected by those that lived the village. For years she'd simply chalked up everyone's reluctance to be around him to intimidation, yet it was only recently that she had allowed herself to see the truth. He had not grown in the village, he had been an outsider and although he was an undeniably strong inu demon, it was easy for her to see that they had never gotten over that fact. Perhaps, it only served to further prove that it was better to be feared than loved, but she truly didn't feel like delving into philosophical thoughts at the moment. What did it really matter anyway? She knew what he had to have felt like though. Traveling alone was difficult; most towns were more than a little hesitant to let a lone stranger into their midst if they were even at all willing to begin with. Feh, she'd always accounted it to their foolish insecurities but the truth of the matter was that she _could_ actually destroy them if the inclination struck her. Although, she had never been fond of that type of killings and for the most part avoided then at all costs. It was that type of useless slaughter that had cost her family and in all honesty, she simply refused to senselessly kill in that manner. True, she had no reservations about being the actual bringer of death to a man that willingly stepped into a battle, yet ransacking and pillaging was a different matter entirely. But, she tried not to think on those sorts of matters all too much.

From what she'd been told she'd gathered that her father had simply been passing through the area when he'd come across her mother, or more accurately she had come across him. Apparently, he'd been traveling for a great deal of time and had stopped near the beaches attempting to catch some saltwater trout near a cove of the seaside bay. As her mother recalled, and her father only grudgingly admitted to, she had been out walking when she came across him, tangled up in his own net and knotted to a bunch of stray rocks. They next part had always been hard for her to comprehend for by this time her mother had usually been in utter hysterics, but it would seem as if she had offered him her help and he had stubbornly refused. Hm, that _did_ sound quite a lot like him. At the time, her mother had been offended by his rude declination and taken off back to the village in what she had described as a rather depressed silence.

That was always the part where her father would swoop down and settle her mother on his large lap, his calloused hands wrapped loosely around her waist as he finished the tale for her. According to him, he had been smitten by her beauty the moment he saw her and instantly realized the mistake he had made in his rudeness. He'd chased after her, net and all hollering apologies until she finally stopped and fully turned to look at him. Her mother had always added, 'Oh and what a sight he was!' However, even after all these years it was still extremely hard for her to picture her ever dignified father chasing after some teenage girl shouting frantically. But, the again, people were prone to change over time. As the story went, she had felt bad for him and brought him to her family's home for dinner that night; they would both smile and agree that after that they had been completely inseparable.

Oddly enough, it was her younger brother Souta whom she missed most of all. Once again feeling her slowly heaving chest constrict under sorrow's familiar blow, Kagome fought back the overwhelming nauseated feeling that always began to swim within the pit of her stomach at the thought of her closest kin. In all actuality, Souta had been much more of a best friend to her than an actual brother; in fact, during the years prior to the incident they had been inseparable. In the summer that had dodged and dived under the salty sea waves, returning to shore only once they were choking on the smell of the sea air with wrinkled, falsely aged skin. Memories of dozing off beside him on the warm bed of fine, soft sand flashed through her mind, always ending with the slightly frustrated yet good natured face of their mother hovering over them half-heartedly chastising them for not returning home in time for their evening meal. During the fall months they had spent their day hiding amongst the colorful trees of the nearby forest, stealing a few crisp apples from the old tree located at the eastern border of town and talking for hours or sitting in a completely comfortable, companionable silence. Each year this had been followed by a short winter through which the two had suffered together through confinement in the indoors; it was however, spring that had always served as her fondest memory of their times together. Logically, perhaps, the excitement the pair had always shared at the oncoming thought of such a season had to do with their lack of activity during the previous months; yet, to both children it had seemed much more than that. Spring had been the time in which the duo danced around outside for days, not returning to the refuge of their home for often over a week only to find mother beside herself and father chuckling softly in the corner.

Turning quickly to thoughts of her elder sibling, the young woman struggled to keep herself from shuddering in disgust. Not even during all the years which had lapsed between the incident and the present had she ever been able to shake off her distaste for her elder sister, Kikyo. Yes, she did love Kikyo and maybe even miss her in an odd way but it was relatively clear to her that such feelings centered only around the guilt she felt for her hatred and the natural family ties they shared.

Maybe it was bitterness towards the fact that both her parents' entire worlds seemed to revolve around Kikyo, or maybe it was just some sort of natural revulsion at seeing such blatant favoritism but whatever it was had been utterly disconcerting. At the time life had consisted of waking up, determining what type of mood her elder sister was in to see whether she was in one of depressive states and would need constant supervision or whether she feeling particularly angry and both she and Souta could flee the house. Rolling her eyes at the memories of mornings during which she had to sit and watch a sobbing Kikyo while her parents flustered around outside the room not knowing what to do. To Kagome, it had all always been one huge, attention-seeking act. What else could it have been? _Nobody_, not even the women in the village that were a short time away from delivering a child, was that moody.

Why she did it, Kagome had resigned herself to never fully understanding. Wasn't it enough to be loved just as much as your siblings? Did she really need to drag herself around constantly making a scene just to feel a little more acknowledged than the rest of them? Hell, personally, Kagome would have much rather not been noticed at all than compromise her dignity by throwing herself around pitifully every other day. Snorting at the memory of the time Kikyo had felt the need to fall dramatically into a cart of oranges being sold near the village gates, the young woman smiled. Oh, that had been completely priceless. Not only had her older sister been pounded with nearly two hundred oranges, she'd also managed to fall back down seven times before somebody thought to pick her up. _That_ had been an excellent day.

Seeing as Kikyo had been far too _depressed_ to help out around the village and Souta, although good-hearted, was a bit too young to actually be an asset, there had always been at least an hour of work for her to complete each morning before running off to play. Usually it wasn't so bad, seeing as Souta often followed her around and talked with her while she worked through her list. Actually, most of the things she had been tasked with weren't actually that hard, just a bit time consuming and tedious. Things such as bringing water from the well on the edge of the village, feeding the few pieces of livestock they had acquired, starting up a fire for mother to cook their morning meal upon, running into town and gathering any grocery or goods they may have needed for the day, weeding the vegetable garden, sewing up the few holes that tended to find their way into she and Souta's clothes every now and again or baking a few small treats for the village elders. No, life hadn't been that bad, actually she had always considered herself rather lucky in that fashion. It wasn't until that day that her perspective changed.

It had been summer. Remembering clearly the warm night air that had swept her hair about her face, accidentally brushing up against her younger brother's cheek and causing him to give her a very unconvincing glare before he let out a light-hearted chuckle and hopped on her back, silently demanding one of the piggyback rides he enjoyed so much. Knees catching for a second in her weariness, she had easily steadied herself again and arranged him comfortably on her back when she let out a fake groan of exertion. "Uhhh, come on now Souta, you're getting way too fat for me to be lugging around all the time." Laughing at his indignant little huff she recalled feeling him wrapping his arms more tightly around her neck and briefly digging his heels into her sides.

"Hey! Who are you calling fat? I'm not the one that nearly ate an entire bush full of berries today! Besides, even if I weighed as much as old Shin from middle of the village you'd still carry me." Knowing he was right, Kagome had giggled, nodded her head and given a little hop to shake him up for a moment. Feeling the stiffness of her drying clothes caused by the salty water of the ocean and the overwhelming sun that had been present that day, she cracked her neck and listened to her little brother babble on. "You know, Mamma is going to be mad that we weren't home earlier. Didn't she say there was something important happening to day? Um, a meeting? Somebody's birthday? Another weird ceremony for something?" Silent for a moment she snorted when he finally remembered what it was they were supposed to have been doing that day. "Oh yeah! Kikyo wanted to talk to all of us about something!"

Grunting, Kagome had picked up her pace just slightly, not wishing to feel her older sister's wrath but knowing that by now it would be far too late to avoid it. "Kami, when doesn't Kikyo want to talk to us all about something? If the rest of us needed to 'talk' that much none of us would ever leave the house at all." Feeling her younger brother squirming with laughter atop her back she hopped up and down twice, setting him off into a full blown laughing fit. Not able to fight the urge to giggle with him, they had both fallen into dead silence when they had reached the crest of the hill that overlooked their village. Dropping Souta, who landed clumsily on his thickly calloused feet and sprang around her, their eyes locked for a moment, both reflecting the orange light of the fire that was currently consuming their home and the homes of many others.

Below them the forms of rouge warrior demons could be seen outlined against the blaze, plundering houses and leaving trails of bodies in their wake. To this day she never knew why they had chosen that village to stop at or who they even were, but before she could contemplate such things on that night she had glimpsed the form of her younger brother dashing towards the scene, angry tears spilling down his face. Hesitating for one moment, a moment that she had regretted for the rest of her life up to this very second, Kagome had taken in the mess before her with a sickened awe before darting off after her younger sibling. Not able to sprint nearly as fast as her brother, Kagome had found herself only coming to the very edge of the village when it happened.

No less than one hundred yards before her, Souta was walking slowly, face plastered with a thoroughly bewildered look of desperation. Tears still falling freely from his chestnut brown eyes, Kagome had watched opened mouthed a grotesque looking rat youkai, slobber dangling from its two massive buck teeth, locked its beady black eyes onto the form of her little brother. Unable to move although she had been internally screeching at herself to do something, her own blue eyes had widened as the disgusting mass of grey hair and mangled flesh unsheathed a large, exotic looking curved sword and brought it down without a moment of thought. The seconds that it had taken for her younger brother's body to hit the well trampled dirt path of the village were the longest of her life. Not noticing the retreating forms of the demon rouges, arms filled with goods as they laughed and disappeared back into the forest, she had thrown herself down at her bother's side, shaking him uselessly.

It must have been a good hour before she had stopped clutching his now cold, nearly bloodless body and stared into his black, glazed eyes. Unable to keep herself from retching, the young woman clearly remembered leaning over to the side of the body and spilling the contents of her stomach. After a few more heaves and few shaky breathes, she had climbed onto her own wobbly feet and began her search of the village. It was her sister's body she found first, followed by her mother's and finally her father's. A few quick glances told her they had left no survivors in their wake; walking numbly back to the lifeless body of her brother, she had dropped to her knees and sobbed. She had known she had been crying hysterically for hours but at the time she just hadn't care, at the time she hadn't been able to care. All she could do was greave. It was only several long hours later that she had finally passed out from exhaustion, her small body no longer able to handle the stress of her continuous tears.

The next day there had been no sun. The fires from the night before had finally burned themselves down to small glowing embers and the smoke had risen to encircle the entire area in what one may have assumed to be an appropriate cloud of darkness. She had not gotten up that day, or the next or the next. It was only on the morning of the fourth day when she was beginning feel lightheaded from dehydration and lack of food that she had allowed herself to open her eyes. She had wanted to die. It would have been so much easier that way. Dragging herself to her knees she had crawled her way over to the body of her father, whom she knew to always have a small hunting knife stored within his haori. Finding the blade, she had pressed the cold steel to her throat, only to gaze down at the face of her father and see what was an impossible look of what seemed to her to be disappointment. He would have wanted her to die with honor. Unfortunately, taking her own life did not fall under such guidelines.

Allowing herself to fall limply backwards onto the bloodied ground beneath her knees, hand still gripping the black leather coving on the hilt of the tiny dagger tightly, her chest began to rise and fall in a shaky, unstable pattern. Eyes closed and head pounding she tried her best to concentrate on some line of thought. What did it matter how she died now? It wasn't actually as if her father was around to disappoint now, was it? Besides, who would blame her for joining her family and everyone she knew in the afterlife? She should have died as well; she would simply be fixing a mistake. Opening her bleary eyes once again to stare into the unmoving orbs of her father, the eyes that had passed onto her brother, she groaned. Souta. He had adored their father, idolized him even and knowing Souta, he would be mad if she just gave up and did something she knew her father would disagree with.

Fine, she wouldn't kill herself. Decision made, all the sadness the young girl had been feeling quickly transformed itself into blazing anger and she let out a ragged screech. Listening to her voice ring around her, Kagome cleared her sore throat and sat up for a minute looking in both directions with her tear-stained face. Managing to make it onto her own two wobbly feet, she stumbled around the remains of her village for a few moments before finding a small loaf of bread that still looked at least partially edible. Sitting down slowly and beginning to chewing on the tough loaf, she thought of all her options. Well, she could always just wait until she died on her own, but being of demonic heritage that could take thousands of years. She _wanted _to die as soon as possible and she _needed_ to die with honor. The only people she could think of that died with honor were warriors, but hell at the time she didn't even know how to hold a sword. Sighing and leaning up against the charred structure of a burnt house, she groaned.

A warrior's death was all that she could think of, but she wasn't even a warrior. Training for that kind of thing could take up to a century if you really wanted to get good, or so she had been told many times through the elder's stories, and while it was less than a few thousand years, it still didn't seem that good a choice. Besides, it was really a desperate idea anyway. However, a day later, after several more crying fits and a few more temper tantrums, she decided that she didn't know what else to do. It had taken all of two weeks to the reach the training village that lay to the south of her home and the entire way she had complained to herself, promising that as soon as she had a better idea she would change her plan. Yet, to this moment, nearly a century later she still hadn't strayed from her original path. Actually after she had made her way to the first village she had trained at, she hadn't really had time to think of much else other than training.

The first few months at that camp had been hell-ish. First of all she had had a hard time even convincing them to let her join them for training and even after that they all turned their backs from her. It was this that had shoved her into her new mentality. She would show them. She would be better than all of them; someday they would all know her name. Now, although she'd never lost the intense need to prove herself to the world, she knew by now that fame was not what she wished for. No, she still wished to join her family, but her own pride wouldn't let her die on purpose. Hm, shaking her head and concentrating once again on the training she had undertaken she cringed. It had all been so hard at first. She recalled going to bed every night sore and aching.

Yet, after the first few years of struggling behind everybody else she began to excel. While the other students were focused on friends and family as well as mating and games, she cared for none of it. There was a reason behind her training and it was all that she did. Even on days where their Sensei would deem it far too hot to practice she went to the field and worked by herself. By her tenth year there she had gained the respect of each and every person in the camp. She had been by far the best fighter there, plus her tiny stature helped her greatly when it came to acrobatics and agility that she was known for. As well as the ways of the ninja, she had picked up the basics of most weaponry. It was only after the completion of her eleventh year at the camp that she finally felt the need to move on.

It had been only several days later that she had run across an old dragon demon, whom, at the time she had assumed to be more than a bit insane. In fact, their first meeting revolved around his scolding her for entering his property unbidden and his threat to behead her. Politely, she had told him that it was highly doubtful he could even come close to her with his blade. However, to her surprise, before she had known what happened she had been pinned underneath the leathery old male with a gleaming blade pressed to her throat. At the time, she had thought it was finally a chance for her to join her family once again, but she had been quick to learn that the loony old dragon didn't plan on ending her life anytime soon. After several arguments and quite a bit of haggling, she finally convinced the elder to teach her all of his superior sword mastery in return for her doing chores for him the duration of her stay.

Life with Kenji hadn't been at all what she had expected; in fact, it had been nearly the exact opposite. Contrary to the usual stereotypical energy loss that was said to come with old age, it had seemed to Kagome that the tough of dragon had revealed himself to be more passionate each day. True, some of the things he had requested from her had been utterly ridiculous, such as the ditch digging. Oh Kami, that had been a horrid experience! That evil little man would sit there on his rickety old porch and shout either encouragements or insults, depending upon his mood, as she widened what had over the years grown to be nearly a twenty foot ditch around his cabin for no immediate reason. At first she had just thought he was testing her will, yet after six months when he began speaking of the imminent invasion, she knew he was simply loony.

Well, not that it had been hard to tell through his numerous rants about the considerably rude nature of his vegetable garden, volatile nature of springtime grass and the burning disk of impending doom, otherwise known as the sun, that was hanging above them in the sky. Besides helping her develop muscles the size of which she could never before have imagined, the old coot really did know what he was doing with a sword. At first, she had thought the whole bargain to be a mistake seeing as the entire first two weeks of her training had consisted completely of her raising her arm and holding out a blade until she felt as if the entire mass was about to snap off. It had helped though. Now, she was able to endure many more blows than most before the muscles and tissues in her arms would start to quiver with exhaustion.

They had been good years. For all of his nonsense, old Kenji had known a lot of the world and revealed to her much about the true natures of both mortals and demons. Yes, he tended to awfully cynical and looked at the world with a shaded gaze but he was truly an amazing judge of character and although he never really told her much of his past, she always assumed him to have been some sort of well known general commanding a major force for one of the cardinal lords. Over time she had gotten used to his unprovoked rages and completely manic bouts of happiness; it was simply part of him and she learned to live with it, even enjoy it some days.

It had been hard, leaving old Kenji's. Despite his unsociable nature, obvious insanity and his desperate demand for perfection, it had been like losing a second father. Perhaps it was only because he constantly claimed her to be the child he had thankfully never been cursed with or maybe it was just his indifference to the rest of the world, but whatever it was had made leaving that spring morning tenfold more difficult than she had ever imagined it to be. Sighing as her last memory of the lopsided cabin and ruffled inhabitant flashed through her whirring mind, Kagome recounted walking off into the lush green labyrinth of the overgrown forest. At the time, she had had no clue where she was going and decided to content herself with simply wandering through the brush until some desired location struck her. It was only when she had stopped by a quietly babbling brook to catch a few tasty, silvery-scaled fish that the next chapter of her existence had revealed itself to her.

She had been positioned on a moist, moss ridden rock, the bottoms of her bare, calloused feet gripping onto the rough stone surface tightly as her clawed hand hovered over the clear water, readying itself to snatch a bluish-green carp out of the crisp liquid. Having been given what may very well of been the nearest thing to a heart ache she had ever come close to, she launched herself nervously backwards into the shallow water as a broad, masculine swooped down from above her and stole the lunch she had been eyeing right out from under her nose. Splashing indignantly as her sore bum pressed itself against the hundreds of rounded stones that lay below the shallow surface, she recalled glaring up at a rudely chuckling young, hare youkai. Standing up and wringing out the cloth that loosely covered her body she had growled, "That was _my_ lunch. Is there a reason you happened to see fit to grab it right out from under me?"

Digging a leather booted heel into the dirt the mildly attractive young male had responded, "Listen lady, you couldn't have caught the fish if it had been floating belly up down the creek. I-" Trying to proceed in his excessively arrogant ranting, the boy whipped his head around to the far side of the clearing in exact synchronization with Kagome and sighed as they both took in the seven, demonic forms approaching them from the tree line. "Great Kami guys, do you always have to just show up like that? You know, it actually is common practice to make one's presence know before just appearing." Looking back and forth between the un-amused faces of those who were obviously his traveling companions, he huffed. "Was there something you needed or do you all just enjoy sneaking around behind me when I'm trying to catch a little lunch?"

Sapphire eyes observed carefully as one of, what seemed to be a pair of twin demon brothers walked up to the rabbit youkai and smacked him weakly over the back of the head. "Hm, sometimes I fear that mental slippage is causing you to regress Haruto. Truly, was it completely necessary to steal this young woman's lunch? Come now, you're father should have taught you better than that." Shooting a very pointed glare over to a fidgeting elder hare youkai that was standing behind his other six companions, the feline demon cast a quick glance to a muscular ookami youkai that seemed to be heading the little group and sighed. Looking back at a still very drenched Kagome he spoke, "I'd apologize, but I'm not sure it would do much good in this case. How about you just come and share our lunch?"

Never liking to be dependant on others and not especially trusting these strangers, Kagome was about to decline the offer coldly when she saw the pouty look on the face of the imbecile who had snatched up her food. "Fine," had she replied in what she hoped was nonchalance.

Casting a quick glare at her new rival, Kagome could have sworn she caught a faint roll of the eyes before he huffed and began to trudge along behind them. All in all, the entire situation had her nervous. Here she was in the middle of some foreign forest in which she couldn't even begin to get her bearings, marching in step with a rather mismatched group of travelers. Sighing and shaking her head, the young woman halted as they approached another, less overgrown clearing. Gleaming sapphire eyes examining the makeshift set-up of several randomly placed logs and stones she assumed were meant to serve as seating, the already crackling fire she could sworn had been absent not a moment ago and several burlap sacks thrown haphazardly off to the side, she watched as one of the older looking travelers begin to clean the fish she had been planning to capture as well as what looked like wild boar. Seating herself awkwardly next to one of what seemed to be the more talkative group members, she had barely opened her mouth to ask a question that had been floating around in her mind for some time when she was cut off by what she assumed to be a mole demon. "What's a pretty little thing like you doing out all here all by your lonesome?"

Snorting at what she could easily pick out as a poorly masked condescending tone she mentally mocked him before replying, "I was just leaving the home a friend." Well, that wasn't a complete lie, Kenji _was_ her friend and she _had_ been staying in his home…it was just that she hadn't mentioned living there for the past several years. Feh, why did these people need to know anyway? What business was it of theirs what she did with herself? Fighting back the urge to groan in disgust as the male who had been preparing the food simply tossed it all into the small fire pit, nearly smothering the flames with all the excess blood that was rolling from the carcass, Kagome closed her eyes and firmly massaged her temples. "And what are _you_ all doing out here?"

Sensing a response coming from what looked to be an annoyed, antisocial ookami youkai, she turned her head to face him only to receive a grunt and nod almost as if he was signaling for someone to tell her. The hare demon she had first become acquainted with seemed to snap of his brooding revere and turned his form towards her. "Not that it's any of your business _little girl_, but this is what we do. We just travel around from place to place; I guess you could call us wanderers, rouges for some." Kagome, thinking hard about the terminology made a confused face barely visible to those around her. To be rouges, didn't they have to be lawfully exiled from somewhere? Deciding that it was best to get the question out of the way now she cleared her throat, deciding a blunt approach would be best.

"Rouges?" She hoped this came out as politely as possible under theses certain circumstances and fought back the need to bolt off into the woods. Was she really about to share a meal with a pack of rampaging murderers? Oh Kami help her! "I really don't mean to pry but, uh, don't you have to be in some form of exile for you to be rouges? I mean technically isn't that what being a rouge is? Do you-" Gulping as she looked briefly around the closed circle of skeptical looking faces, she was about to mutter out some continuance to her statement when one of the other travelers burst out in a very hearty bout of laughter. Narrowing her eyes slightly at the prospect of being laughed at she snarled at the man, "And what is so damn funny? I'm just dying to know." Gulping as soon as the word _dying_ had left her mouth, she held her breath and waited for an answer.

Wiping the mirthful tears away from his eyes, one of the identical demonic duo raised his hand and choked out a response. "We're not _rouges_, just travelers. Haruto here just likes it all to sound more dangerous than it really is. I'm afraid the poor boy suffers from a severe case of mental distortion." Taking a plate of cooked meat that was being handed to her by a thusly silent hawk demon; she turned her attention back to the speaker. "No, we're just travelers. None of us like to stay in one place for too long; I guess you could just call us restless." The remainder of the meal, and the evening for that matter which had sprung forth unexpectedly from afternoon, blended together in such a manner as to be unnoticeable, was spent conversing of various topics, ranging from serious and controversial to lighthearted and humorous.

It was only late into the night when she stood to leave that she was offered a place with a the gang. Listening to the mole demon she smiled, "Why don't you just stay the night with us? Even better, why don't you travel with us for a while? It seemed like neither of us have a general direction or any place to be getting to, I'm sure some company would be enjoyable on both ends." It hadn't taken much thought on her end to accept the invitation. At the time she had still been young and in need of constant support, why not take what was offered? However, at the time she had not known that she would be staying with this particular group of demons for a period of time bordering on twenty yearly rotations.

She had meant to leave. Truly, she had meant to. It had been her resolution each morning for months as she traveled across the countryside with the companionable band of eight, exploring lands she never even known to be in existence. She had learned much, from the customs of the east and the mannerisms of those from the northern territories to the history of the south and the mission of the west. In the beginning, it had simply amazed her that there had been so many places, so much outside of the world she had known as a child. There had been days where she had wondered adamantly whether or not she would have had the pleasure of such travels if her family had still been alive. Most likely not was always the conclusion she seemed to come to. Although, she had found another sort of family with the little band of eight and truly enjoyed their personalities and quirks.

Dawning on nearly his seventh century of existence, Atoshi, the silent hawk youkai had been the eldest of the group. Although it was he whom she had felt closest to by the time of her departure, she recalled clearly her earlier reservations about the broadly built man. His constant silence had thoroughly unnerved her during their first few months together. There was a point, even, where she had insisted on chattering avidly around him taking barely a momentary break for air in a desperate attempt to fill the stillness and cut off the connection made by the elder's glowing jade eyes. It had been a hard lesson for her, one the that rest of her traveling companions could offer no aid in; yet, it had been necessary in the long run. Either purposely or indirectly, not knowing which for it was debatable whether the man could not speak or simply didn't wish to, she had learned to become more confident in her own presence as well as honed her ability to read another being. Despite feeling the intense impulse to yank out each strand of her own raven hair during every other 'conversation' she had with her silent friend, it had been an experience that she would not trade.

However, Atoshi had certainly not been the most trying of her new friends. No, that role had been filled by none other than Haruto, an overly zealous, sickeningly confident hare youkai with what seemed to be an endless stockpile of energy at his disposal. Never in her life had she met a soul that so thoroughly contrasted with her own; thus, leading to their inevitable bickering nearly every other minute. Yes, he had been much like the obnoxious big brother she had never had. Whether it was their general course, the upcoming weather, the entrée for the night's meal, what towns to wander through and what towns to pass, even the exact shade of a flower petal…they'd forever been at one another's throats. Kami, portrayed in one of her most vivid memories of the snappy, silver eyed rabbit demon was the scene during which they had fallen out into a full fledged fist fight over a disagreement as to whom could correctly remember the sequence of villages they had passed four days prior.

Nearly the exact opposite of his son, Haruto's father, Kojii, had been a nervous wreck ninety percent of the time. Actually the only time she could truly recall seeing him relaxed was when he had fallen into one of his deep periods of slumber and even then he still clutched at the splintered wooden handle of his axe with a white knuckled grip. She couldn't really blame him though. From what she had been told by the other group members, Kojii had once been one of the most powerful and influential general's in the Eastern lord's army. It was only when his mate had been accidentally slaughtered by his own hand during a blindfolded sword routine that he had fallen into his current state of constant edginess. Still, the man had a lot to offer. Although he had flat out refused to pick up or even gaze upon the blade of a sword since the time of his accident, he had taught her the painstaking art of many other weapons including, short dagger, shuriken, the bow and others.

Kojii's closest companion, a mole demon going by the name of Itoshi had been another interesting character. As a mole demon, Itoshi had been born blind as nearly all of his species were, yet it was his incredible hand to hand combat skills that had earned the relatively jolly, stuttering man her respect. His theory had been to monitor his surrounding with each magnified sense instead of his useless visory orbs. After nearly two years of immeasurably painful beat-downs dealt out by the pudgy hands of sight impaired mentor, she remembered fondly the moment in which she had first struck the unusually agile mole demon. In all honesty, the blow hadn't truly been a fair one, but that hadn't taken away from her victorious whooping and dancing in the least. It had been on the crested hill of the northern valleys that she had finally came into contact with him; his chest heaving, he had declared an end to their sparring session and dropped his arms when she had flown at him with full force. Now, years later, she did find herself having a bit of a guilt complex for having done such a dishonorable thing, yet at the time it had given her the momentum she had needed to continue her training.

The twins, a pair of cynical demons of the feline origin, Kakashi and Joutsu, had also helped her progress towards the completion of her training. Neither being particularly muscular or even all that fond of physical combat, the duo had been extremely well versed in the origins and usage of demonic power sources. It had been through those first few months of lessons with the aforementioned pair that she had most seriously considered leaving. Aggravating her to know end, the beginning of their training had consisted entirely of her throwing all her physical strength and determination into a barrage of useless attacks that had barely even scratched the mental barrier the two had constructed using physical entailments of their respective ki. Only after they had had their fun watching making a complete fool out herself did they actually begin to instruct her in matters of demonic inductions. Nearly everyday had ended with her retreating to her sloppily laid out bed roll and falling upon it in a heap, head pounding and far too exhausted to even rise for some sort of dinner. In the end though, it had been worth it, she had become thoroughly in tune with her demonic abilities as well as gained a good bit of stamina from endless hours of practice.

In fact, the only traveler not skilled in at least a moderately advanced form of fighting had been the sparrow youkai Nikotsu. Long, lean and lanky as was common among his species, Nikotsu had picked up the peaceful disposition that was so often passed down throughout his kin. Battle had never been at the forefront of the scholarly intellectual's mind, and even in the rare circumstances that it was it only happened to be in the form of a historical recollection or reference. Although perhaps not the most useful in pursuit of her goal, Kagome had always found the man's teachings to be one of the more interesting aspects of her day. Before her departure she had become proficient in reading, writing, arithmetic and much demonic history. Despite her usual lack of need for such skills, she had found them to come in handy more than once when passing through a town, bartering or signing some sort of trade agreement. Besides, it always surprised people, both human and demon alike, that she housed such worldly knowledge and surprise, she had been taught, was always a favorable element to have on one's side.

The final and perhaps most mysterious group member had been the ookami demon Rannock. Second only to Atoshi in his lack of enthusiasm for verbal expression, the wolf had spoken to her mostly through glares and pointed looks; when he did see fit to growl out direction for her, his tone never left any room for argument. Having a personality that was clearly that of an alpha, Rannock had loathed any form of disobedience or ineptitude. It had been he that had been the hardest to gain acceptance from. Even Haruto had given her a bit of grudging respect before the cold demon had seen fit to allow her the privilege of addressing him by his given name. Before that point in time, she had simply gained his attention, the few times she had needed it, with a sharp gesture or unspecified call. A good five years had passed before he had seen fit to acknowledge her as part of his pack rather than an outsider and another two had gone by before he bestowed upon her his full trust. Even through all his doubt, it had been Rannock that had taken it the hardest when she had decided that it was time for her to leave their group and further her own path. Although he had sworn up, down, left and right that the only reason he had even cared if she departed was agitation that she might get herself killed after wasting so much of his valuable time, they had both known that she had surpassed him in skill at that point and it was simply a case of attachment.

Leaving had been hard, but necessary. Since the death of her family she had refused to tie herself down to another being and that would change for no one. Those first few years of independence had been a trial for her. It had been only through time and experience that she had found a teacher in the ways of travel, nature, navigation, sustenance and even regional culture. Kami, there had been a lot to learn but somehow she had managed. Most of her difficulties had only required time to overcome, however there was one in particular that had called for a drastic reaction and to this day she was still unsure if she had made the correct choice in the matter. That matter had been that of her femininity.

Yes, it was simply much easier to travel from village to village as a male. That had been something she had had to learn the hard way; apparently, most women who traveled alone into a town were either in the line of prostitution or thievery. Well, being a demoness the idea of prostitution or the concubine lifestyle didn't sit too nicely with her. Casual sex was something that mortals did, youkai knew better. Mating was something to be shared with only one other and while it was common to have had a lover before having an actual 'mate', it was something that was to be completely set aside as the time of union. Blanching horribly at the memory of the first time she was asked to warm a male's bed, Kagome could feel her throat constrict in a convulsive gagging motion. It was only after having beaten the man to within an inch of his life that she was informed as to why the disgusting old lecher had queried as such.

While the alternative notion of thievery was much less repulsive to her, it had still thrown her for a loop each and every time some store owner would beginning sweating and ringing their grimy hands nervously only to dart away and hide their goods. It wasn't that she cared what people thought of her, for she didn't, it was just a nuisance being followed by a gang of mortals waiting for the moment they could attack without notice. But, then again she supposed it was like that whenever any demon went into a mortal village. Examining the deadly picture painted by the glinting moonlight reflecting off of her lethal claws, Kagome snapped her fanged teeth in a useless attempt to fight back a yawn. These days she was used to getting as little sleep as possible, perhaps an hour a night if she was lucky. Really it was not that she couldn't have found more time to complete such a task, it was just that the normal sampling of thoughts running through her head would never allow her much time for tranquility.

Hm, in the beginning she had seriously considered hacking off the length of her hair in an attempt to look more boyish. However, the silky raven strands reminded her far too much of those of her mother; besides, there were many men strolling about the countryside with long hair. What should make her any different?

No, the problem lie within her extremely feminine facial features, not to mention her curvaceous structure and ample bosom. So, it had come to pass that she had taken to wearing a very traditional, old form of a full ninja body covering. At first the heavy cloth had been more than a bit uncomfortable but now she happened to feel completely naked without it.

Fully clothed in her ninja attire, Kagome was quite aware the she looked less than intimidating, yet also held the knowledge that the garb helped to present her as more than mysterious. Baggy black pants fashioned out of a coarse, sturdy material were secured tightly to her well camouflaged hips by a firmly wound length of wide black fabric which in turn caused the direct billowing of the cloth as it expanded around her legs. The expansion came to an abrupt halt approximately a third of the way down her shins where two more strips of even heavier fabric were secured around her feet in the fashion of makeshift boots that served as an excellent grip, parting only slightly between the second and third toes of each foot. Tightly bound breasts were covered by a large, matching shirt that was tucked snuggly into the cloth band of her pants. Her forearms, were wrapped much like her shins, exposing only the tip of each individual finger and serving to keep the excessively long sleeves from interfering with any hand work she have had to do. Another piece of tight black strip fabric, this one a bit softer so as not to rub raw the skin of her face was snaked around her feminine head, hiding her hair and each part of her face in turn, leaving only her eyes exposed. At her waist hung a loosely knotted sheath that housed a formidable blade with a styled silver hilt. A bag of black velvet, housing several shuriken was also looped around her waist band next to several small daggers that she rarely used.

All in all, the only physical features you could pick up when looking at her were her intensely shimmering sapphire orbs, obviously firm toned body and her abnormally short stature. Hm, well she was short in comparison to most males. The costume worked well to hide her soft feminine bosom, delicately curved hips, sinewy legs and plump lips. Life was just easier this way. Years of throwing herself into any random battle she had come across had provided her with more actual fighting experience than most saw in an entire lifetime. Usually though, she was able to slip quietly away from the scene as soon as the fighting came to an end. And so it had gone for years; for years she had traveled the countryside fighting wildly and despite this she had yet to die. Yes, she still wished to die. There were friends she had made among the living, but what was the point of walking the world without those you loved? Although she accounted it to pride that she would not let herself die purposefully in a battle, though she was more than willing to take a blow to spare another, a part of her knew it was some deep seated fear of death. For so many years she had been taught to avoid it, only to purposefully contradict all she knew and go searching for it.

Kagome knew she was good and she loved it. The feeling of being able to take down anyone filled a part of her she had thought to be dead since the day she so helplessly watched the bloody corpse of her brother fall listlessly to the ground. It made her feel powerful, competent, strong…in control. Yet, she wasn't thankful for it. If anything, she wished that it was something she never had to experience. Each year that passed her by during her lone travels brought with it a feeling of guilt. A feeling of guilt that came from the knowledge that she wished to have a companion. No, she should have been dedicating herself fully to finding an honorable path into the afterlife with her family. However, she was a demoness, a demoness that was beginning to feel the strong push for a mate. She knew it would never come to pass. Aside from the fact that she was passing herself off as a man, who in the world would wish to be tied to her? She had temper the likes of which was known only to hell, an unbreakable attitude forged from years of training and was just about if not the least submissive female to ever walk the earth.

Once again turning herself so that she lie in an at least semi-comfortable position, Kagome took in the sweet smell of the dewy grass around her. Dawn was already closer than she would have liked it to be and the morning winds were picking up, sending a cold shiver through her bones. Resigning herself to the fact that she would most likely not be the recipient of any rest this night, she closed her eyes and tried at least to fall into some sort of meditative state. If she could not slumber, at least she could somehow attempt to prepare herself for the day before her. Hearing the agitating chirping of crickets in a nearby field, Kagome slammed her hands to the area in which her ears were located and glared up at the sky. She could have sworn the Kamis were laughing at her and her pitiful crusade for rest; yet, things might have been different if only she had known those same Kamis were laughing for another reason entirely.

A/N: Well, I'm not at all satisfied with how that turned out but I've already spent too much time revamping it and I'm just ready to move on to the first chapter where I can actually pick up with the story that I had wanted to execute. Hopefully you'll read the first chapter as well. Thank you and My Regards,

xxemzyxx


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: For those of you who had expressed your concern when I recently mentioned this newest, unconventional project, I thank you for your thoughts but would like to inform you all that I'm quite aware of the creative license I've taken in straying from the normal storyline these tales tend to take. As best as can be managed, all of the characters will stay true to their personalities with only minor changes reflected from my new fabrication of their pasts. Thank you very much for your time and I truly hope you enjoy this first chapter. Hopefully, it will catch your interest.

Various shades of purple streaked the sky, filtering out their tones to degrees of robin's egg blue and a misty sea grey. The still suppressed sun, peaking just barely over the cresting hills in the distance gave license to the slight yet noticeable reflection of the dew drops upon an open field of lush, grassy blades. Spreading for a good few miles over the fertile terrain stood an innumerable count of roughly construed tents fashioned from either burlap or tanned deer hide, speckled here and there by extinguished fire pits and silent except for the silent thunder of several hundred sleeping soldiers. However, one fixture stood out among all the others, not for reasons having to do with a great physical notoriety but individuality based solely upon its lone occupant.

Said tent, being positioned in northernmost stance gazing across the open grounds ahead, was in fact quite similar to all the others. Pitched from a rather lengthy section of durable burlap and a few choice, sturdy poles as well as reliable rope, the structure was not large nor was it small. Obviously having been set up without much intention of a long stay, the fixture's large flaps were closed nearly completely. Yet, if one was to peak through to miniscule parting crease of the fabric, one would have caught sight of an extremely disheveled looking inu lord by the name of Sesshomaru. Long silver strands tussled and clearly ungroomed, fell haphazardly, framing his pointed masculine face. Pale skin and thin lips were accentuated by a sharply pointed nose and a stunning pair of tired amber eyes. Clad in a wrinkled garb made of white silk, complete with a stitched red pattern of what appeared to be honeysuckle, the tall, broad shouldered male sat massaging his temples vehemently.

Slowly taking in the mess around him, the master of the palace moon sighed; under normal circumstances he couldn't bare disorder but things such as they were he found he needed to will himself through the clutter. An untouched sleeping roll lay folded neatly in the corner, piled high with partially empty brown sacks that had one housed a good deal of extra military equipment and a few days worth of rations. Tossed into the opposite corner was an unopened satchel which contained a number of fresh clothes, clothes which he had found no time to change himself into. Ancient western armor discarded near the front of the tent and blades lain parallel across each side, the silver youkai found himself seated upon an old splintered crate, another of same nature in front of him, piled high with ancient historical texts and topped with a creased and yellowing map that spilled slightly over the edges of the surface.

Growling inaudibly as the pounding in his head increased, the demonic warrior resignedly snapped his eyes shut in an attempt to shut out the ever brightening rays of the rising sun. Damn it all to hell, for the love of Kami, even the weather seemed to be against him. Would it have been too much to ask for an at least partially cloudy day through which he could have shielded his aching eyes from the constant bombardment of golden beams? Apparently, it had. On top of that, his usually perfectly straight spine had fallen forward, pushing him into a slightly slouched position which he found completely unfitting for one of his station. It had been all those nights of sleeping, or at least attempting to sleep on the rocky ground that fortune had saw fit to gift them with in their travels.

Trying to remind himself why he had left the comfort of his white marble manor all those many weeks ago, he ran through the situation in his mind for the millionth time. It had begun through a set of ten or twelve seasons ago, nearly unnoticeable at first, even to his own perceptive vision yet, swelling with the bloated intent of malice. Beginning with a simple disturbance near the Northern border of his lands he, at the time, had not seen fit to visit the plagued area himself and had sent several troops instead. It was only upon their return that he had learned of his newest, and perhaps most volatile rival, the hybrid hanyou Naraku. From what little he had been able to gather on the man, he had at one time been born into the form of a human bandit answering to the name of Onigumo. It was theorized that sometime during his second decade of life, the power hungry mongrel had come across a way to fuse his soul with that of many hell-bound demons and completed the task with the utmost pleasure.

After gaining a hugely substantial amount of power himself, the spider, for that was said to be his foremost demonic counterpart, had taken an industrial interest in gathering each rouge or exiled demon clan to his side and finally retreating with his reportedly massive army to the unclaimed northern mountains to seek refuge. It had been only several years after that rumored departure that the beast had returned, more than ever set on obtaining a massive rule over all four cardinal lands in a domineering lordship. And, unfortunately for him, the conspiratory arachnid had chosen to first eliminate the western lands, seeing as it was certain to be the most difficult to overtake. Now, although Sesshomaru found himself thoroughly above asking his peers for help, he also found that it would generally have made no difference.

The lord of the northern territories, the aged flea youkai, Myoga, had never been fond of conflict and although he had been close friends with his father, the infamous Inu no Tashio, the dog prince knew he would gain no aid from the elder. Besides, it had been centuries ago in which the old fool had dispersed his own military forces in favor of what he argued fervently as a 'peaceful' rule. As well, the southern lord Miroku was a mortal, albeit a mortal that he respected in the smallest form of the word, and it was more than simple sense to figure that no mortal army could even dent one consisting of purely demonic origin. Yes, even though he was sure his holy acquaintance would offer assistance, he saw no reason to waste life uselessly. Leaving him with his only other option, the Eastern lord Koga of the ookami tribe, he released a derisive snort. Hm, the boy had just recently come into power; it was more than likely he hadn't even begun to examine his military options at this point.

Thus, he had trudged forward on his own, surrounded by a small number of soldiers on an exploratory surveillance campaign. Now nearly halfway through his march, the action he had seen had been only minimal. True, they had found themselves at tryst with several small standoffs but other than that the whole venture had been deemed, by him at least, a failure. His problems found no end there. Although many in number at the moment, the frustrated inu found his foremost concern to be the raw lack of preparation reflected in his forces. In more simple terms, his damned soldiers were all lacking in both training and actual experience. Yet, to make the situation even more aggravating, he could not seem to find a suitable general to train said troops. It wasn't as if he had time to complete the task himself and thus far all applicants had displeased him in some form, being either too soft or too focused on perfection. No, he wasn't looking for perfection at the moment, just some general skill level he could find footing in.

Aside from that, the villages on his western border were arguing among themselves like children, the whole debacle having no real foundation and thusly becoming all the more infuriating to him. Normally, he would simply have made one of his intimidating appearances, let them know of his displeasure and then slaughter their elected leaders for good measure; now though, he didn't have the time. The fools would simply have to work it out themselves. Even his own home was no longer a safe haven from the stresses pushed upon him but leadership; no, at the palace moon was intimidating, even for one such as himself, for there sat stacks of paperwork sprawled over his office, falling to the floor in a layer that by now must have been damn near a foot thick. Even when he finished out this trudge, he would have yet another awaiting him in his study. Kami only knew that most of those confounded documents had to do with the new trend of squabbling minor lords that were dispersed throughout the cardinal lands. Hm, if he was allowed his way he'd just crack the bastard's heads together and be done with it.

Shaking his silver head and completing his vigorous massage of his bruising temples, the western leader sighed and rolled his heavy head backwards, relieving the built up pressure in his neck for a brief moment. Allowing his eyes to travel to the back of his heavy lids for a moment, the youkai known as Sesshomaru tuned his finely pointed ears carefully to the ruckus he had thus far ignored, flowing in from the outside. Immediately able to pick out the metallic clang out clashing blades and panicked shouts of inexperienced participants, the dog prince snarled under his breath as he exhaled hotly. How could he have pushed aside the entire symphony of noises that come with the beginning of a battle? Why had he suddenly become so lax in his normally flawless abilities? Well, that he knew that answer to; no demon, not even the great Taiyoukai Sesshomaru could keep up a state of constant vigilance for weeks on end. Hopping to his feet, the muscled male quickly shook out his sore, stiff limbs that had tightened from his momentary lack of motion. Snatching both of his swords, he gave the mythical healing blade of his sire a disgusted look and shoved it down into a sheath, constructed of worn brown leather. Being that he now only had one arm, he fumbled with the other, darker blade for a moment in an unusual display of clumsiness before securing it within his grip. Casting a dismissive glance toward the pile of ancient armor that lay heaped in the front of the tent, he decided to forgo that hassle.

True the chest plate his father had left him was quite formidable _looking_, but in actual battle it simply ended up being a hassle. The heavy steel it was fashioned from as well as the jutting, pointed youkai bone spikes weighed him down far too much for his liking. Making a mental note to have armory of his own molded when he returned to the castle, he grimaced. He was _not_ his father, nor did he want to be; yet, it looked as if he still had quite a ways to go to escape the man's massive shadow. Darting through the flaps of his rumbling tent on hurried heels, the lord uncharacteristically groaned at the sight before him. His own soldiers, clothed in the traditional white of the west, seemed to be crushed under the giant, unending wave of mercenaries adorned in deep purple. Not only had nearly three times the sum of his own men lain fallen in comparison to the enemy forces, but the brutal nature of the battle didn't seem to be lightening in the least.

Launching himself into action, the distressed dog demon slashed himself a path to the center or the field and began his own massacre. Body after bloody body fell before him, their crimson life fluids spattered against the green of the grass, the silver of his blade and the pristine white of his own attire. Heads rolling before him, Sesshomaru leapt over the barrage of bloody carcasses in his wake and snapped his elongated fangs. Somehow, even to one such as himself, filled with the unbendable ego forged by centuries of noble upbringing, things were looking a bit bleak.

Nearly two hundred yards away, at the very edge of the skirmish, stood a lone back figure, surveying the scene calmly. Growling discontentedly at the fact that she had been awoken from one of her rare periods of rest for such a hopeless looking tryst, the woman known as Kagome rolled her sapphire eyes and concentrated. Noticing the obviously desperate position of the forces doused in white, she choked back an irritated sigh. It was quite clear that none of these men were even nearly ready for battle and it annoyed her to no end that they were being subjected to such. While outnumbered and falling fast, she also observed that the demons in white fought with much more passion, even it was clearly a passion inspired solely by panic. Making up her mind to fight on behalf of the demons in white, seeing as she usually chose the side of the underdog, Kagome hopped into the whirl of conflict, both anticipatory and excited.

Felling massive numbers of the opponent per minute, the black clothed warrior ducked and dodged in an experienced fashion. Battle was always exhilarating, more so than any other pastime she had ever ventured across. Perhaps it was the knowledge that any minute among these strangers could be her last or maybe it was the simple adrenaline rush fighting for one's life provided, either way, she adored the feeling above all else. Kicking a vicious looking weapon from the hand of her current foe, Kagome let her sword gracefully slide through the man's torso, a satisfied feeling rushing through her at the dull thud the corpse made upon contact with the ground.

Sesshomaru, by the same token, also extracted his blade from the chest an enemy, golden eyes moving quickly over the field before him. Oddly enough, it looked as if the opposing forces were depleting much more rapidly than before, even though he observed only a very small fraction of his original forces still standing. Puzzled for a moment, all the while executing fatal blows to his foes, he looked over the field again quickly. Dodging a swing that easily could have taken his head off, the silver inu turned just in time catch a glimpse of quite a mysterious spectacle indeed. Almost exactly parallel to him, a man, wearing neither white nor purple, was cutting wildly, not to mention quite expertly into the forces of Naraku. Who was this lone warrior and what in the name all the hells was he doing interfering with such an important battle? Yes, despite the much needed help this stranger was offering, Sesshomaru stilled viewed his presence as intrusive. Making a quick decision to confront the man, the silver inu lord raised his blade in a roundabout swing, beginning the tedious process of clearing himself a path towards the newcomer.

Taking only a cumulative span of several minutes thanks to his finely honed battle skills, the western lord soon found himself only several feet away from the current object of his interest. Sidestepping a sloppily executed attack and easily managing to take several heads off all within the same movement, Sesshomaru took in the man before him. Raising an eyebrow at the male's unlikely appearance, he called hotly. "What is the name you go by?"

Glimmering teal eyes charged with the electricity of battle, Kagome ducked under a wildly flailing blade and gave the newcomer a heated glare. Balancing her weight on one leg and tossing her lithe body forward in a roundhouse kick, the young warrior smirked to herself hearing the satisfying crack of her heel making total contact with an opponent's head. Once again feeling her mass evenly distributed as both feet found a firm grip on the soiled terrain, she threw her left arm in a backward motion, preventing a feeble attempt at an onslaught while twisting under the arm of another. Finally finding a few moments during which the action abated, the spitfire contemplated giving this new male her name. Hm, what could it hurt? After all, it wasn't as if she would be sticking around after the battle to pick up any pieces so to speak. Deciding to give him her true, birthgiven name as to avoid the confusion she always seemed to find herself in when under an alias she huffed, "Kagome, my name is Kagome."

Silver tresses flying about him as he threw his form to the ground, rolling skillfully away from an oncoming attack, Sesshomaru catapulted himself back onto his feet and snorted. Kagome? What sort of name was that? Apparently this man was from the northern region, for that was the only land which he could imagine such an odd name originating from. Hm, that would also explain the man's strange garb and oddly lilted voice. Making an abrupt forward motion with his blade, Sesshomaru gutted his oncoming enemy and took a moment to admire the stranger's fighting style. Truly, it had been a while since he had seen a warrior with such a refreshing stance and rejuvenating style. Although not normally a fan of those who relied on agility, the western lord found this man's swift, acrobatic attacks to be quite well thought out, not to mention affective.

Bending backwards to avoid a nearly fatal blow, Sesshomaru began to flow through once again with his own concise motions; now taking in the quite obvious fact that this relatively bizarre man and himself were very near the only two left standing on the side of the west, he growled. This was just great, absolutely marvelous. Now, where in hells name was he going to get another few hundred demons? Thanking the Kamis he had decided to leave the majority of his forces behind at the palace, the dog prince voiced his next question. "And what, pray tell, do you think you're doing, interfering with this Sesshomaru's battle? Whose name do you fight under?" Noting with pride the completely condescending tone that had tumbled from between his thin lips, he gave a mental shrug. In all actuality he had been thanking whatever deity saw fit to send him such help, but in keeping up appearances he could never allow that knowledge to be at all publicized. Amber eye twitching with such an out of character self admittance, he took the liberty of reminding himself of the intense annoyance he had felt when he first learning of such an aid.

Grinding her pointed teeth in a painful motion, the black clad warrior ran a sword through the shoulder of an enemy, then drug the blade down in a diagonal manner, effectively rupturing each of the unfortunate demon's inner organs. Withdrawing her weapon from the lifeless corpse, Kagome seethed inwardly. That…that…that idiot! Interfere? Interfere! Was there a reason all males had to be so damn egotistical? Snarling she spat, "Oh, excuse me great one for intruding upon your excursion. Please, I do beg your forgiveness. And, I fight under my own name," Blade whizzing angrily through the thick, muggy air, the young woman tossed an annoyingly persistent rat youkai over her small shoulder, towards the feet of her _companion_. Shooting him a challenging glare before returning to the task at hand, she waited impatiently for his response. It was only after he gave her a snippy response that she saw the arrow flying towards him, poised to strike directly through his unarmored chest if he didn't move out of its path, however he seemed to busy waiting for her own retort.

Doing his utmost to conceal his utter astonishment at the simple feat of being spoken to in such a manner, Sesshomaru quickly glanced at the body she had so kindly tossed in his general direction. Stuffing his leather booted footed angrily into the jaw of a charging demon, he snapped his fanged teeth in aggravation. "Hm, this Sesshomaru shall forgive you," he said airily, making an obvious attempt to rile his seeming ally further. Noticing the odd look in the man's eyes, the silver inu cocked his head and was about to make another witty, hopefully cutting remark, when he found himself tackled to the ground roughly. Regal back thudding loudly against the bloodstained soil, the Taiyoukai was giving serious consideration to slitting the stranger's throat when a sudden realization dawned upon him. Narrowing his orbs of molten gold in an obvious display of mistrust and suspicion, the western prince let an utterly dangerous scowl mar his normally passive features. Eyeing the foolish young man above him with a rapidly duplicating and dangerously unfounded sense of distaste, Sesshomaru examined the man's shoulder attentively. Now, never having been one to put any faith whatsoever in the positive nature, not mention, possible gestures of others, he glared at the wooden shaft of an arrow, an arrow that was meant to and very well may have been his demise if not for his fiery rescuer. Graciousness passing him by swiftly in favor of disgust, the inu demon came to the conclusion that the man currently sitting above him, straddling his toned midsection had some ulterior motive or at least hidden agenda behind his actions. The coppery scent of mixed bloods already having invaded the field, the youkai noble could gather no knowledge at to the extent of the wound or the emotions of his seemingly reluctant savior. Hm, it mattered not for in the end this demon would simply fall as all the others had done and were bound to do.

Noting the instantaneous glint of amused arrogance that flashed through the buff, silver haired demon's amber orbs, Kagome snorted in impatience. Fine, if the bastard wished not to acknowledge her actions she could play that game as well. Propelling herself quickly from her bent knees to a sturdy stance within the time span of a quarter second, the lone traveler spared her narcissistic companion only a brief moment of recognition before once again raising her blade and throwing herself into what was left of the oncoming hoard. Crouching down to avoid the rounded swing of an axe while in that same short period managing to knock several demons off their bulky, unstable feet, she huffed. True, she hadn't done it for him, in fact, she had done it completely for her own gain but still it was the damned principle of the thing. Not that the impaled shaft was causing her any amount of unbearable pain, for she had certainly suffered far worse injuries in her life, it was his simple ignorance of her charaded sacrifice that rubbed her the wrong way. Aware that the his obliviousness would eventually be of no consequence to her or her cause, the young woman decided to simply put an end to the whole escapade as soon as possible.

Not entirely over the shock of having another take a hit in his stead, a feat he was quite sure not one of his subjects, soldiers or even allies would be able to procure, the western inu followed the man's example and leapt back into the throng of battle. Feeling the intensity of the clash draining swiftly as well as taking grim note of his complete and utter lack of standing militia, Sesshomaru let fly a frustration filled swing, taking off the unbearably featured heads of several attackers. Soon satisfied that each and every demonic military counterpart of the dark hanyou that was Naraku had been thwarted, the silver demon feigned indifference and studied the man before him in a more thorough manner. Quite aware of the other warrior's little game of ignorance quite familiar with it even, he watched in he was praying appeared to disinterest as the shorter man wiped away the thick coating of black blood from his blade.

Painfully aware of the amber gaze that seemed to be boring nearly tangible whole into the sweat covered, sticky flesh of her back, Kagome gave her utmost in an attempt not to stir the situation further. However, this, against her will, turned out to be one of those moments which each of us has experienced, one in which the mouth works faster than the mind. Eyeing him up and down in a manner that hopefully came off as scornful dismissal she hissed, "Was there something you needed, or did you simply plan to stand there and gawk all day?" Not missing the tightening of his already white knuckled fist around the hilt of his angular, proportionate sword, the young woman was not at all surprised moments thereafter to be backed into a defensive position, blades crossed and eyes locked determinedly in a battle of wills with her newest acquaintance.

Sesshomaru, whom had momentarily given up his ongoing struggle for monotony of public emotion, could feel the fierce heat radiating from his face. Wondering for a moment what it was about this being that brought out such a surge of feelings he had worked so hard for so many centuries to keep under lock and key, the son of Inu no Tashio bared his pearly, white fangs in the direction of his challenger. "This Sesshomaru," he snarled indignantly, "does not, nor has he ever 'gawked' as you so ignorantly termed it." Ducking quickly below the swinging level of the stranger standing in his wake, Sesshomaru made a wide swipe with his left leg, one which was easily hopped over by an agitated Kagome. Blades clanging together once again as he stood, this time taking the defensive stance himself, he waited for a response.

Both white knuckled hands and sweaty palms pressed up against the leather hilt of her sword, Kagome struggled against the muscular frame of the silver inu demon, finally managing to twist their blades in enough of a tight circular pattern as to disengage them. Mentally noting the advantage in physical strength this man held over her, Kagome took a step back and assessed her opponent. Blade still poised to strike, she examined carefully his unmoving facial features and sternly set mouth. Yes, this man most certainly filled every stereotype she had ever heard associated with those who bore the label of warrior. Taking in his broad shoulders, muscled chest and finely toned legs, she could only come up with two potentially critical flaws. The first, being more of the obvious nature, was his missing left arm, while the second, an aspect only a warrior would notice was his slight rightward lean in relation to his posture. Although this too probably had to do with the disproportionate sums of weight, it was most certainly an indicator that his balance would be at least slightly off. Hm, yes, this man seemed to be truly powerful and power was something she respected.

His thoughts at the exact opposite end of the spectrum, the lord of the western territories was presently wondering how one such as this, so small and dainty, could have possible gained such skills. Short and lean, the man didn't seem to have much physical prowess and the lord, holding a high opinion of himself as was routine, was quite certain that any being foolish enough to find themselves in a battle with one such himself held no great mental prowess. Deciding that he wanted to end this little escapade as quickly as possible, the western lord once again lunged forward in a power based strike. Finding his aggression halted due to the raised blunt, backside of the stranger's sword, he once again disengaged their weapons, only to lunge forth mere seconds later with an approximated thrust, one which was easily dodged by his opponent's swift sidestep.

Blades clashing once again in an explosion of crackling orange sparks, Kagome twisted under her own fully extended arm, making a low backwards jab at her opponent's left side. Growling as she found her blade trapped under a neatly booted foot and pitched away with ease, Kagome relaxed herself into a fighting stance, her main objective now to once again create a fair playing field by disarming the persistent fool in front of her. Winding back her left arm as to appear that she was preparing herself for a left side strike, Kagome leapt forward and smirked, quickly noticing how the inu had fallen into her plan of throwing up a forearm block. Changing positions quickly, the shorter of the pair nailed the dog demon's straining wrist with a direct hit from her heel, leaving them now both disarmed.

Sesshomaru himself, who had now fallen into his own battle stance, snarled at the simple trickery of such a foolish being. Although he would most certainly take it to his grave rather then breathe a word to any other, the western dog prince did have honest admiration for this man's skills and respect for his determination. Shaking off the foreign feeling of what could only be explained as the absence of disgust; he balanced himself fully, found his center and waited in a defensive stance. Hm, it was true, if given the choice he always preferred to start out as the defendant, thus giving himself a safe opportunity to gage his opponent's skill level, style and technique. From what he had been able to gather thusly, the demon before him was well trained and widely so. His techniques ranged from those taught in the far southern regions to those in uppermost northern territories. While seemingly lacking in the department of brute strength, the tiny male certainly made up for it in agility and wit. However, he would wait until he finished an actual bout of hand to hand combat with the man before he passed any judgment.

Bouncing ever so slightly on the balls of her feet, a technique she herself had formulated as to remain in a constant state of readiness, Kagome easily judged that her opponent was waiting for her to make the first move. Fine, she enjoyed being the aggressor anyway. Taking a deep breath against the coarse black fabric of her hood, she threw herself fully into a groundless, rotating kick. Immediately feeling her ankle caught in the talon-like grip of her foe, the young woman pushed off the ground with her opposite foot, bringing it fully around so as to connect harshly with structured cheek bone of the demon. Seeing as he had dropped her ankle but done little else in the way of reactionary response, Kagome simply took a crouching stance and waited for the canine's next move.

Never enjoying the pressure of a waiting opponent, the dog prince stepped quickly and gave the crouching man a hard knee in the gut followed by a painful elbow to the clavicle. Not yet knowing the resilience of his opponent, Sesshomaru was more than simply surprised when he felt the blow of an elbow in the center of his muscled chest. Staring for a moment before tossing two punches, neither of which made contact and avoiding two himself, the silver inu leapt back and glowered at the man garbed in black. There was something about him…

Growing bored with the idea of a stalemate, the young woman once again eyed up the demon before her. Nearly ready to duck in for another attempt at an attack, Kagome fell back, unwarranted, at the sound of the dog demon's deep, baritone voice. "You are a fool to expect any favors from this Sesshomaru; you are owed nothing." Arms falling to her sides abruptly in a rather exaggerated gesture, Kagome shook her head vigorously, hoping to display her own distaste for the situation. So, this was all about this idiot's pride and his refusal to recognize personal debt? Fine, she wasn't expecting any favors in return to begin with; besides, it more than likely their paths would never cross again. Fed up with the idea of being on the offensive toward something or in this case a concept, that required no defense, the agitated warrior shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

Snorting at the man's dismissal, the Taiyoukai struggled to hide his inner fascination. Did this man truly not expect anything in return for his aid, or was he simply waiting until misfortune befell him to call on such a paramount debt? Drawn out of his revere only by the distasteful hiss that fell through the lips of his current companion, the young lord focused his vision towards the shaft protruding from the boy's shoulder. Sneering at the young man's clumsy attempts to remove the impaled short of wood, the western lord fell out of his cool character for a moment and groused, "Fool," taking a step closer to the lad he added, "cease and desist with such irritating actions. This Sesshomaru shall-"

"No!" The exclamatory left her lips before she could even process its meaning. There was no way she allow him to touch her. None. The risk associated with such an action, the risk that revolved around her own hidden femininity, far outweighed any benefit that might fall as a derivative under such a situation. "No," she ground through clenched teeth, hoping against all the worlds that she had at least a minute air of finality about her, "I can damn well do it myself. I don't need your help."

Sesshomaru, who was more than a bit taken aback at the violent refusal of his aide, blinked, momentarily stunned. On this, one of the rare times he offered his, albeit begrudging, help to another, he was refused. Hardening his soul against what felt to the youkai like a meaningful rejection, Sesshomaru came to the conclusion that there was only one thing left a being in his position could do. And it was then, without fault or feeling that he set out to accomplish said action, all the while amber eyes locked with stunning sapphire.

A/N: Alright, I know this chapter wasn't all that great and I know that it was terribly short but please forgive me. I wrote this and the prologue during the same time interval and my attention span has been wearing thin. Besides, I really would like some feedback before continuing to devote such large portions of time to this. Once again, thank you and God bless. -xxemzyxx


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